ITF

S E N I O R S 30 ITFWorld // SPRING 2018 G R A N D S L A M S Caroline Wozniacki belatedly won her treasured first major at the Australian Open while Roger Federer, in a dream run to No. 20, continued to blaze a trail of his own. By Suzi Petkovski. AUSTRALIAN OPEN 20 TO ONE IN MELBOURNE Roger Federer repeated his famous Aussie Open victory of the previous year FOR ALL ROGER FEDERER'S BRILLIANCE IN ANOTHER FAIRYTALE GRAND SLAM WIN – NO. 20, FROM A RECORD 30 FINALS – it was ladies first at the 2018 Australian Open. Women served up more epics and firsts. In an open-era first Grand Slam final between players who both survived match points in earlier bouts, Caroline Wozniacki won her first major over top seed Simona Halep 7-6(2) 3-6 6-4 in a gruelling decider. Both burdened with the 'Slamless No. 1' tag, Wozniacki and Halep fought desperately for a maiden major title in the third final for both. They played 218 points of mostly "crazy-long rallies" as Wozniacki put it; two points separated them at the end. "It was such a tough grind," said the newly-minted Grand Slam winner. "I'm very proud to be here with the trophy." The 27-year-old Dane also returned to the top spot – a record six years since her previous stint. Never has the No. 1 ranking been so secondary. Like Li Na in 2014 and Angelique Kerber in 2016, Wozniacki's win came after firewalking through match points. Against little-known Croat Jana Fett in the second round, she survived from 5-1 and two match points down in the final set. Wozniacki freed up after that escape, playing with "house money", as she put it. 30 ITFWorld // SPRING 2018

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